Lake Winnibigoshish Fishing Reports

[bmc]

I think the landings that used to be "so/so" are gonna be S.O.L. this year. I haven't been out doing any checking, but I'm definitely worried! If possible I'd definitely recommend doing some scouting so a person isn't scrambling opening morning because their landing of choice is un-usable.

Brian

[bigfishresort]

Heard some guys where fishing rocks on west shore last week end . Did good on good size Perch . Jig and a fat head. Hope to try it my self this week end , will fill you in.

[magnum mike]

Has the recent rain done anything for water levels in the area? I know it has not been a great amount but slow and steady for a few days. At this point, anything would help.

[Jason Boser]

were up at high banks yesterday and the landing was good there. levels were close to normal on winnie.

Jason

[gregg52]

winnie is controled by the core i'm sure

[Groms]

Does anyone know how the landings at Bowstring or Round look?

[magnum mike]

My camp is on Round. 10 days ago both landings were unusable for anything but a canoe.

[Jason Boser]

landing on the north side of bowstring lookrd bad

Jason

[kdawg]

were up at high banks yesterday and the landing was good there. levels were close to normal on winnie.

Jason

Really? I've heard so much about winnie being the lowest folks have ever seen it. Or is it that it's just the landing at high banks is good?

[Jim Almquist]

Because it is a reservoir all they have to do is shut the gates and they can raises the levels.

If it is good at the access at Highbanks the whole lake should be good because that is one of the most shallow accesses on the lake.

Lets just hope we get some rain so they don't have to start drawing it down.

[troyfideldy]

With the snow storm, I took a day off of drilling wells and went on a run to check some of the local waters that I know flucuate greatly, most of these are part of a flowage. The drive up through the avenue of pines was interesting with the heavy wet snow fall.

Big Winnie- Plug hat landing

Water levels were low but the landing looked good.You could even get in big boats here. The dock was slighlty crooked between each ramp. I would recommend everyone not wanting trouble with their boats on any of the local waters maybe check this landing out.

Then checked out the dam area and lil winnie access

The River is EXTREMELY low! I feel pitty for the wader fishermen. Better look for a different place to fish. Water has been shut off to get water level up in Big winnie.

The ramp to land boats was competely DRY!

Bowstring-

Checked out south landing. Water is low but my father, who has been fishing bow for 40yrs, said he has seen it shallower. The landing is not recommended for any boats that need to float. But the landing is fine for small boats capable of shallow water landing.

The rain and snow is helpinging BUT we need alot more rain to get up water levels to normal. The Water level is low in the area but I know someone who knows how to find more water below our feet.

Have a safe and fun opener.

[gregg52]

well anxious to see those towering pines next week

hopefully nice and warm !!!!!

[tweedlap]

tfd,

Thanks for the update and great pics !

tweed

[winniewalleye777]

Out fishing perch this weekend and the water temps ranged from 49 - 51 on the big lake

[gregg52]

wells thats good i think last the end of june they were still around that lol

spose to warm up next week to

[bearplott]

How did the perchin go?

[winniewalleye777]

Caught a lot of small perch with about a dozen jumbos mixed in. Could see the bottom in 7 ft of water.

[lakejumper]

Jim, Jim, Jim....thought you knew better than that! I can't just close the gates and bring the lake up. First, the river requires a minimum of water to keep the critters alive. That is 100 cubic feet per second. I have been at that flow since March 10th! Second, with a lake the size of Winnie, the wind and sun take a lot of water off the lake through evaporation/transpiration. I need about one inch of rain per week just to keep the lake at the same level. So, I need quite a bit of precip in the form of snow or rain to make up the shortage from a light winter and very dry months of March and April. As of 5/10/10, the lake is still five inches below the summer band, and about eight inches from where we like to have it at the middle of the band. Good luck fisherman, pray for rain, and watch those lower units!! Signed, the damtender.

[jigginandriggin]

walleye777...any walleyes mixed in with your perch? Are you fishing on Monday or just the weekend for opener?

[Jim Almquist]

Here I thought you might have had a little extra precipitation this spring so you could shut her down and bring up the levels. DANG Sounds like we might get some over the next 2 days but I am sure that will not be enough. Are you going to open with the same group ? Maybe we will see you on the water.

[gregg52]

lol

i'm thinking most lower units are safe on winnie

as long as you stay between the bouys in the gap

there are some HUGE ROCKs buy those ....huge you wont move em thats for sure

[swamp stomper]

Does anyone know if the landings are usable on round and bowstring now after the rain or if there still low? I usually launch on the north side of bowstring and the north side of round.

[winniewalleye777]

No walleyes... We only had fatheads though. Lots of big fish marked in the short time we were out. I am heading home on sunday. You are going up right? We got a new bathroom in the basement... it is sweet. DD is skippin to go to prom

[magnum mike]

Both of the landings on Round, Northern Acres and the N public ramp on Bowstring are all less than 12 inches deep at the back tires when the front tires are in the water. On Saturday I had my 18' Lund backed into these landings as far as I dared to back in. The best we found was about 14" from the bottom of the boat to the water and about a third of the trailer tire out of the water. With a smaller boat, roller trailer and waders you could probably get in & out of those landings. Big boat or deep V hull, look for other options. I heard Snug Harbor was thinking about dredging their landing but they wanted a hefty price to land & park there.

[HIGHBANKS]

http://www2.mvr.usace.army.mil/WaterCont...=S&pcode=HP

Water levels are holding at our normal levels. Our access is available for opener to the public. Boat access is $10/boat. Shown above is the link to the Winnie Dam water levels monitering. Might want to mark it as a favorite. It also has information on past water levels and statistical data.

[Avid Angler]

Anybody know what water temps are on Winnie?

[slovene]

Was around 49 degrees last Sunday, south end by the river mouth. I'm guessing it hasn't warmed much this week, but next week looks promising.

[tcroz]

Just wondering what the weekend results were on Winnie. Will be coming up next weekend. Want to know what to look forward to!

Thanks

[Seabass77]

We fished pretty much all day, picked up 10 eyes, 2 pike, and a ton of jumbos. Caught most of our eyes in front of Highbanks, anchored, and pitching out and retrieving very slowly, jig and shiner or fathead, 1/4 oz fireball, gold and silver. 15.5 feet. 9 of the 10 eyes came in the last 1.5 hours.

[james_walleye]

We found our way to Winnie about noon saturday and fished until 7. We caught 20 eyes, 13 legals, biggest 22". We went back sunday from 9 to 4 and pretty much repeated our saturday. Jigs/shiners in 10-13'.